12 comments:

Diseases flow both ways; there are those who say that, while the white man brought measles and smallpox to the New World, which wiped out Indian populations to the tune of 90 - 100%, the Indians returned the favor with syphilis (sp?) - if so, talk about Montezuma's revenge (yes, I know, this is hotly debated)!

What is left out of the conversation is that the white man was just as powerless against these diseases. He may have had some immunity, but Master Will may never have gone down in history as the greatest practitioner in the history of the English language had it not been for the fact that the city of London had to be closed in the 1580's (how many times in 250 years?) due to an outbreak of the plague.

WV "lessee" Legal and commercial term, as in, "Lessee how much you owe me".

The incubation time for flu is short. They were probably infected while traveling. If they did not have symptoms prior to departure then the tests would all have been negative. Still, if any of them did have symptoms, staying home would have been the right choice.

Diseases flow both ways; there are those who say that, while the white man brought measles and smallpox to the New World, which wiped out Indian populations to the tune of 90 - 100%, the Indians returned the favor with syphilis (sp?) - if so, talk about Montezuma's revenge (yes, I know, this is hotly debated)!

It's not really hotly debated any more. Researchers found evidence of syphilis in European bones that pre-date 1492, making it a disease that existed on both sides of the Atlantic prior to Columbus.

The strain we're all familiar with was the European variety, whereas the New World variety was a non-fatal skin disease that was transmitted by non-sexual contact.